RFK Jr. on confirmation hotseat questioned by questionable Sen. Ron Wyden

Screen shot

As this is being written, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is seated for his confirmation hearing for HHS Secretary. While the Republicans are asking him reasonable questions pertaining to the job, the Democrats, led by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, has attacked him unmercifully in his opening statement and then in his questioning. Wyden has attacked RFK Jr's character and even yelled at the candidate at one point, cutting him off as he attempted to answer.

So who is Ron Wyden?

 
In 2024, Wyden introduced legislation to reform the Supreme Court, a politically motivated move to increase the number of justices who would therefore be appointed by then-President Biden. It's obvious that Wyden is Party-driven and if Kennedy was nominated by, say, Kamala Harris had she won [heaven forbid] the election, he would be all in for him.

There have also been instances in which Wyden's family members engaged in stock trading activities that coincided with legislative actions, as in insider trading. His wife, Nancy Bass Wyden, who owned the Strand Bookstore, bought shares in semiconductor companies [Nvidia, for example] at the time when Sen. Wyden was pushing for legislation to support the U.S. semiconductor industry--a conflict of interest, obviously.

Wyden was also involved with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which he co-authored. There followed debates about content moderation and responsibility of platforms such as social media companies. Wyden wanted more moderation rather than First Amendment rights, taking a position more like that of a dictatorship nation.

Tweet